Pages

May 1, 2017

Today I want to tell you about hiring a cleaning lady in Munich. Why? because to find the perfect one could be more painful than to find an affordable apartment in Munich. In this blog post I will tell you about my experience with some of the cleaning companies you will find online and I will also include some links to learn about the tax deduction you can claim if you hire cleaning services in Germany.

Let me start by saying that the cleaning ladies, maids, housekeepers, housecleaners... whatever you call them aren't expensive in Munich. The rates of some cleaning companies in Munich start at 16-18 EUR/ hr.

Back in 2015 I signed a contract with Karos Reinigung for a biweekly cleaning service of 3 hours. The previous tenant of my apartment used to work with them so when I moved in, I decided to try them. The rate was 16 EUR/ hr (plus VAT which in Germany is 19%). I provided all equipment and cleaning products.

Karos sent me a very young und unexperience lady who didn't speak any German or English, so we ended up communicating with Google images and finger pointing. She was cute and meant well but she had absolutely no idea how to clean a house. At the beginning I tried to helped her but 2 months into the job I complained. I complained again after 3 months and again after 4 months... Eventually after 6 months she started doing a good job and I was happy with her. But on January this year I ended the contract. Why? Simple: Karos has the worst customer service on the planet earth. They were usually rude and inefficient in processing requests or mistakes in the invoices. My experience (feeling) was that they deliberately ignored my emails and calls. They always responded with a month of delay. One day in January, when they were even ruder than usual I decided to end the contract.

After Karos my husband and I asked our friends and colleagues. Many have cleaning ladies. Many are very happy with them but of course: they are all fully booked and do not have time for another household.... That forced us to go to Google.

My second try while searching for the perfect cleaning lady took me to Deine Putzfee. This service is super simple and and super easy to book. Everything is online. You can sign up and book a cleaning lady & appointment within minutes. They make it so easy... the problem is that their online service is the only thing that is worth paying for. They sent me a lady whose only advantage was that could speak fluent German. This lady came in and started talking (mostly non-sense about how she emigrated to Germany 12 years ago)... and she talked non-stop for 10 mins. Then she took another 10 mins to put her hair up... on my lobby... while I was standing there listening to another 10 minutes of her story learning German when she first arrived in the country... So 20 mins into the appointment I finally got to show her the house and tell her what I wanted her to clean. Then she headed to the bathroom to start the cleaning and I went to the office hoping to do some work... 2 minutes later I heard her speaking again... she was speaking in her language to herself!! and even loud sometimes... I confess that at one point I was a little afraid and I wished I had checked her references before booking a completely stranger to come to my house online... She talked (loudly) in her language throughout the three hours of the cleaning appointment... after that she finally stopped and called me. She announced that the time was up (she only did 50% of what my previous cleaning lady used to do in the same time) and she handled me a tablet and point at the question: "happy with the cleaning?".I was so unease and I wanted her to leave so much! that I clicked all good, forced a smile and quickly closed the door behind her. I will never ever hire anyone via this service again. I am unsure how they hire their employees but she was probably the worst (and most scary!) cleaning lady I've had in my life. I asked Deine Putzfee to even delete all my details from their database after paying the invoice. I never want to hear from them again. They charged me 81 EUR for three hours and I provided all equipment and cleaning products.

My third try will be with Happy Maids. This company has very good reviews online and I am very hopeful. The website is in German and English. They also have customer service in both languages. And my experience so far (booking the appointment) has been very good.My first appointment will be in a couple of weeks so I will post my experience afterwards in Part 2 of "Cleaning Ladies in Munich".

In the meantime, let me also list a few companies that I have found and that I will try if Happy Maids doesn't work for me.

Then there is also Helpling, Mr. Cleaner and My Home Cleaner which are probably the most popular online and in Bavaria (or at least the ones that spend more on AdWords by Google). I don't know anyone using them, so if you have some opinion about them please comment below.

And last but not least here's a link to learn about the tax deduction that you can use if you hire cleaning services: